More than one person has asked me why I haven’t signed @truahrabbis recent “Rabbi’s Say End the War” in Gaza letter to President Biden. For the record, here are a few reasons why I chose not to sign it 🧵:
• It thanks Biden for his “diligent work” for a ceasefire but does not demand he stop sending Israel billions of dollars of military aid, much of it without Congressional approval;
• It expresses gratitude to Biden for toothlessly “insisting Israel provide assurance that it is using U.S.-provided weapons in accordance with international law and is not obstructing humanitarian aid” but does not demand he stop arming Israel unless they comply;
• It refers to Palestinian “deaths.” It says Palestinians are “at risk of starvation” when they are actively being starved. It notes the “population could be decimated” as if that has not already happened;
• It says “there is no question that Hamas has repeatedly and deliberately endangered the lives of their own people” – a claim that has only been made by the Israeli military and has not been verified by independent human rights agencies;
• It refers to “the unimaginable suffering of a massive population of trapped civilians at the feet of Hamas,” completely eliding Israel’s imposed blockade that has kept Gazans in an open air prison for the past 17 years;
• It does not mention that Israel’s military assault has been labeled “a plausible genocide” by the International Court of Justice;
• It does not mention that the Israeli military has fired on and killed scores of Palestinians seeking relief aid;
• It does not mention that Israel has destroyed Gazan universities, hospitals, mosques, schools, and other cultural and historical institutions;
• It ends by asking Biden to work for a ceasefire, the bare moral minimum of what is now required in Gaza.
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